The Nicest Monster I've Met
by Chaotic-Mind-12
Summary: Dawn Nelson was just a normal half-blood until her brother became a werewolf. Now she has to deal with the pack, more monsters than ever, and a prophecy that says that she is destined to die.
1. Flying Home

A/N: This is the first story I've written. It's set between BotL and LO and a year after the begining of BD. I hope you all like it.

Chapter 1

Flying Home

I ended up flying the Red Eye from New York to Seattle. It was a little better since I was riding first class. I ended up falling asleep halfway through the flight. I woke up at dawn.

Haha, dawn. Just like my name. Wait, did I forget to introduce myself?

Well then, I'm Dawn Nelson. I've lived in La Push, Washington since eighth grade. Since I was going into eleventh grade, I'd been at the school for four years (that has to be a record). Before that, I'd moved around a lot.

I didn't really look like anyone else at my school or even n the entire town. My hair is a lighter brown and I have bright green eyes. These differences were because of my mother, the same reason I go to New York every summer, I'm a half-blood.

I couldn't wait to see my family again. It was awesome to see my cousins and half-siblings every summer, but I was so much closer to my 'other' family.

I knew that my dad, step-mom, and half-brother would be waiting for me at the gate. Just to clarify, I call my step-mom 'mom' and my real mom 'mother' (I don't really know how it got started, it's just a habit now).

Mom isn't like the evil stepmother; she treats me just like Mason. The only difference was that she fretted over me more than her real child.

Mason and I don't have any sibling rivalry type things and we hardly ever fight at all. We're just so different. Neither of us is dumb, but with the learning disabilities that half-bloods have, I don't do so well in school. When it comes to sports, I rule, but just cause Mason's lazy.

Anyway, back to my story. My family was waiting for me at the gate. Mason gave me a bear hug that might have cracked my ribs if I wasn't tougher.

I stepped away from him, once he released me. "You're as tall as me now?" I asked in disbelief.

"Actually, I'm taller now," he said with a goofy grin. "You're at least an inch shorter."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes. He was 13 while I was 16. It wasn't fair that he could already be as tall as me. Stupid werewolf DNA.

Mom stepped forward to give me a hug. "You look so much older than when you left," she said in her soft voice. "Tell me everything that's happened."

I thought about that for about three seconds. I decided to abridge my summer.

"I'm glad you're home, Dawn," dad said as he grabbed my trunk. Mason took my carry-on and we headed to the car.

The ride home was long and fairly uneventful. I told them about the happenings at camp like the fact that I'd fallen off the climbing wall and sprained my wrist. The main event that had happened during the summer, the Battle of the Labyrinth, I kept to myself. I really didn't want to cause any heart attacks.

"Why are you wearing that clip in your hair?" mom asked after a while. I'd kind of been wondering how long it would take them too notice the metal clip with a flower on it.

"Don't you like it?" I asked, feigning hurt. I put my hand up to it and smoothed down a few stray hairs. "Mother gave it to me."

"I..I didn't mean it like.. like that," mom said, tripping over her words as she tried to make amends to a person she had never seen before but knew was quiet powerful. "It just doesn't seem like your style."

I laughed. "It's a sword, mom. Mother gave it to me as a birthday present."

"Oh," mom said. I saw a slight frown crease her eyebrows. I knew that she would be glad but also a bit sad. She wouldn't have to worry about me as much but she wouldn't be able to match the gift.

"That means that you won't have t carry a knife in your bag anymore," Mason said in a light tone.

"Yes, that's exactly what it means."

"The pack is having a bonfire tomorrow night. Sam said that you could come if you wanted to." I heard the pleading in his voice. I didn't know why, I was pretty sure it wasn't for my company, but I didn't have anything else to do.

I made the mistake of looking down at my arm. The long white scar stood out vividly against my tanned skin. Just thinking about the horse-sized brown wolf that was my brother sent chills down my spine. I wasn't quiet sure how I would react being around more werewolves.

I looked back up at Mason. "No one will attack, right?"

"No one will hurt you," he said before bursting out laughing, probably frm my expression.

"Sure, I'll go," I finally said, shrugging.

"Probably won't have to wait long to meet them," dad said, watching us through the rearview mirror. "Those boys are constantly traipsing through the house." Dad turned around and gave me a stern look. "Don't even think about flirting with them."

I laughed in a sarcastic way. "I probably won't," I said when I finished laughing. "Anyway, why not? Most girls my age have had at least one boyfriend and I haven't had any."

Dad grunted and Mason laughed. "It wouldn't matter anyway," he pointed out. "Our pack is small, there's only five of us. Jacob and Quil are taken and-"

"What does that matter?" I asked. "They could always break-up. I'm not saying I'd get anywhere near Jacob though," I added quickly.

Mason sighed. "They wouldn't 'break-up' with their girls"- he put air quotes around the word break-up- "Imprinting isn't like that," he explained to me. "Besides, they're not even dating them."

"Huh." I couldn't understand any of what he was saying. He had written to me about all that he learned about werewolves, but imprinting was part of what I didn't think I'd ever understand.

"Quil imprinted on Claire who is four." Mason paused as if waiting for me to interrupt. When I didn't, he continued. "Jacob's Nessie is only one but she looks and acts older."

"Love at first sight," I muttered. This stuff would take some getting used to.

"Then there is Seth and Embry," he continued, "which is actually possible." Mason smirked as he looked over at me. "Get ready for the weird. You're dealing with werewolves now."


	2. Flashbacks and Phone Calls

Chapter 2

Flashbacks and Phone Calls

Over the years, I have found that I'm quite different from the rest of my family. Like the fact that I keep my room extremely clean while Mason's room looks like a tornado blew through it.

Another fact is that I'm an early riser. So, when I was up and ready to run at 7AM it wasn't all that strange. I guess the fact that, to me, it was three hours later helped as well.

The route I took was usual for me so everything looked familiar. The few people in my neighborhood that were up that early waved at me. It felt good to be home.

After my run, I walked into my house quietly. I didn't want to wake anyone who might still be asleep. I stepped into the kitchen to get some water and saw Mason with two other guys.

I recognized one immediately, Jacob. "What the hell are you doing here?" I spat at him.

He turned around to face me. "What's wrong, Dawn?" he asked with a smirk. "Not happy to see us?"

"Jacob and Quil stopped by before our patrol," Mason explained. He looked confused at my anger towards his leader.

"Hey," Quil said with a little half wave. "Good to see you."

Suddenly I remembered that I was still in the clothes from my run. I felt my face heat up. I realized that I probably looked awful. My hair was a messy knot on the back of my head, sweat was still running down my face, and my running clothes looked horrible. I wasn't out to impress them but they were still guys in my class.

I turned around and ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I stopped on the landing and waited.

"What's her problem?" Jacob asked. I could almost imagine Mason shrugging with a clueless look on his face.

I heard the backdoor open and then close as the voices drifted away.

I went to the bathroom first and wiped the sweat off my face and neck with a wet washcloth. I went into my room and collapsed on my bed.

It was way to quiet for me. At camp, people were always yelling and screaming. Even at night, the howls of monsters filled the air. It always took some time for me to readjust.

Mom had gone to the store. Apparently, the werewolves were eating everything. Dad had gone to the hospital in Forks where he worked.

It was the best hospital for miles around. Some of the best doctors worked there, like my dad and Dr. Cullen. Not many people in La Push liked Dr. Cullen for some reason so they all went to my dad.

I don't know when I fell asleep but I clearly saw the reason for my scar.

~*~

I was packing my bags. The next day I would be flying to Camp Half-Blood. I was really excited but scared at the same time. With Kronos rising, we never knew when the camp might be attacked.

Mason somehow sensed my distress. "What's wrong?" he asked when I brought my bags down the stairs.

"Nothing," I answered, not meeting his eyes.

"Don't lie to me," he said with fury in his voice. He was shaking really badly. "I hate when you lie."

"Mason, what's wrong?" I was actually afraid. Something about what was happening was really scary. He was a pretty easygoing guy, he'd never been mad like this.

I blinked and my brother wasn't there anymore. A dark brown wolf the size of a horse filled the front hall.

I heard mom scream. This distracted the wolf long enough for me to pull my knife out of the sheath on my belt. This either made the wolf mad or just got him to notice me.

I was able to block the first swipe of his claws with my knife. I didn't notice the other set coming at me until it was right next to me.

I was quick and was able to jump out of the way. At first I thought it had totally missed me but then I felt the burn. Blood was running down my arm and dripping off the ends of my fingers. The gash ran from my shoulder to my wrist.

I looked up at the wolf. He was watching the blood dripping onto the floor with pain in his eyes. Immediately, I knew what had happened. My brother was the wolf and that didn't matter.

I threw my knife to the ground. The wolf watched it clatter to the ground. He looked up at my face again and then shook his head in a comical way. While he was shaking, he began to shrink.

I realized that his clothes had ripped and through him a pair of pants just as he turned back to himself. He put them on then grabbed my right arm (the one that wasn't bleeding) and dragged me to the car.

Mom was waiting in the drivers seat. I thought she was going to start hyperventilating but she was fine driving to the hospital in Forks. I had never seen mom driving so fast.

When we got to the hospital, dad was giving a surgery so Dr. Cullen stitched my arm up. I had heard that not many people in La Push were fond of the doctor but he actually seemed kind of nice to me.

"Did you get attacked by a wild animal or something?" he asked calmly.

"Yeah, something like that," I said, staring off into space. I was a bit distracted, between the pain and the blood loss induced lightheadedness.

"You seem awfully calm for something like this," Dr. Cullen commented.

"I'm a bit accident prone," I said. "I'm used to getting hurt. Last summer, I broke my arm when I fell out of a tree."

He snickered a bit. "I know someone like that."

He finished up and I was allowed to leave. Sam and Jacob explained to me and Mason about what was going on. They told us not to tell anyone.

~*~

I woke up to rain pounding against my window. The rain surprised me. I had forgotten about just how much it rained here since it almost never did at camp.

I looked over at my clock. The numbers glared the time at me: 1:30.

I had slept the morning away and it would probably rain all evening. That thought alone made me need to get up. I went over to my desk, grabbed my phone and dialed my best friend from camp.

"Hello. Field residence," a boy's voice said.

"Hey John," I said to my best friend's little brother. "It's Dawn. Can I talk to Shelby, please?"

"Sure, Dawn, she's been bouncing off the walls all day. I'm sure she'd love to talk to someone from camp."

"Thanks," I said laughing. That sounded just like something Shelby would do.

"Oh my gods," Shelby squealed into the phone. "I am, like, so glad you called."

"Yeah, Shell. It's good to talk to you too," I laughed. "I mean, it's been, like, a total of 48 hours since we last talked."

"I know, it's been sooooo long," she said sarcastically. "I guess no monsters got you yet."

"I got killed by a monster and that's why I'm talking to you," I said, rolling my eyes, and then I remembered that she couldn't see it. "No, not yet. Let's cross our fingers that it stays that way."

"I'd say you had a good flight then."

"Yeah because you know how much I love to sit in cramped spaces for five hours. How was your drive up to New Hampshire?"

Shelby groaned. "Way to long with the little demons in the backseat." Other than John who was 11, Shelby had two younger sisters, Anna and Alison, who were seven.

"It couldn't have been that bad," I said skeptically.

"Yeah it could," she said shortly. "How's your brother doing?"

Shelby was the only person I had told about the werewolves. "He really likes being n the pack," I told her. "I'm going to meet them tonight at a bonfire."

She laughed at something I didn't understand until she spoke again. "With all those boys around, maybe you'll get a boyfriend."

"What are you, a daughter of Aphrodite or something?" I joked. When we were younger, we'd make fun of those girly-girls and swore that we'd never turnout that way.

"I may not be but after all the problems we had at camp this summer, you need a break," she said. "It's probably best for you to go to that bonfire."

"It should be fun," I said with a slight laugh.

"Hey, gotta go," Shelby, said after a noise in the background. "John needs a ride to football practice. Talk to you later?"

"You know it," I said. "You are my best-friend-slash-favorite-half-sister ever."

I heard her laugh slightly. "Same here. Bye"

"Bye."

A/N: I'm really happy that people have read this story and I know that there are people out there reading this but I would like it very much if some of you people would review. I want to say thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed but I'm still just happy that people have read this.


	3. The Bonfire

A/N: I know that several of you are wondering who Dawn's mom is. Well, it will be revealed in ths chapter. I can explain why I didn't say it before and why I had to explain everything in this chapter. I wrote this chapter before I knew that there was a crossoversection and I thought that I would have to put ths in the 'Twilight' catagory. Anyway, back to the story.

Chapter 3

The Bonfire

It wasn't until almost five o'clock that I came out of my room. The day had been meaningless since I had nothing to do. I ended up unpacking some of my stuff for a while.

I wasn't surprised to see Mason watching TV and mom on the phone.

Mason was stretched out on the couch that was almost too short for him. He inclined his head to note my arrival. "So, the dead lives."

I rolled my eyes and gave a fake laugh. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"I thought you wouldn't be gracing us with your presence today. Some people would be disappointed if you didn't come," he said, turning his attention back to the TV. "Jacob's going to pick us up in a bit to take us to the bonfire."

"What?" I spluttered. I had despised Jacob since we'd moved here three years earlier. He always made fun f the fact that I had trouble reading.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" Mason asked, oblivious as ever.

A car engine roared in the driveway. "That's him," Mason said, getting up from his seat.

I pulled on my tennis shoes, grumbling to myself. We walked out the door. Jake was leaning against his car door, grinning mischievously. I knew that this wasn't going to be a fun experience.

"Hey Dawn," he said. "I thought you'd like sitting shotgun."

Normally, I would have, but this was Jacob. "Thanks for the offer but I'll be okay."

"I insist," he said, blocking my way to the backseat.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine." I went over to the passenger side of the car and got in.

After we got on the road, I couldn't take the silence anymore. Even with Quil and Mason in the backseat, it was perfectly quiet.

"Am I going to get to meet Reneesme?" I finally asked.

Jake chuckled to himself, like he was remembering a good joke. "Not today. If her family has any say in it, never."

"Her family must be overprotective or something," I said.

"That and then some."

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm never going to learn what 'then some' is supposed to mean?" I said.

"It's for your own good," was Jake's answer. "Too much information is a bad thing."

I sighed. I could identify with that. Knowing that you're a half-blood only makes your scent stronger to monsters or whatever else was after you.

~*~

It didn't take us long to find several cars parked along the side of the road. Jacob added his and we all got out.

The boys sprinted off into the dark forest, leaving me behind. If I had been a normal person, I probably would have stumbled around in the dark for hours. Being who I was, I walked right over to the edge of the forest.

I put my hand on the nearest tree. "Hello," I murmured to it. This would have been weird if other people had been around but I was used to doing this when no one was watching. "I need to find the bonfire. Can you help me?"

Nothing happened for a minute but then I saw a faint glow in the roots of the trees. It began at the tree I had my hand on and continued down the path. "Thank you," I whispered to the tree before heading down the path.

I walked quickly. It was eerily quiet. It was the kind of quiet that pressed on your eardrums until you think that they're going to pop. I thought that I was going to go insane when I finally heard a roar of laughter and knew that I was getting close.

When I reached the clearing, I tried to skitter around the edge and go unnoticed. I took a seat between Mason and Quil. Someone across the fire from me yelled, "Hey, it's Mason's sister."

I glared in the general direction of the voice. Everyone's eyes were on me now.

"Hello Dawn," Billy said, nodding towards me.

"Hi," I said trying to hide my mortification. "Thanks for letting me come."

"Did you really go to New York to learn how to fight?" one of the younger kids blurted out.

I grimaced. "How much did Mason tell you?"

"Not much," Mason said. "I wanted you to tell it. I'd forget something or tell it wrong."

"Oh, joy," I said sarcastically. "Story time." I looked over at Billy who motioned me to come up to the head of the circle.

When I was in position, I clapped my hands together once. "How much Greek mythology do you know?"

"Like Zeus," Quil said, unsure. "Medusa, Venus."

"Venus was Roman," I told him, "but you're on the right track." I took a deep breath to calm my nerves (I hated public speaking). "They're all real and in the US." I was really glad that no one looked exceptionally surprised; they'd been living in this real fairytale too.

"Sometimes they have children with mortals. Monsters don't like that and try to kill these children. That's why we they go to Camp Half-Blood: to train."

"What if I asked you to prove it?" one of the older boys, I think it was Paul, asked.

I smiled at this request. I gently pulled my hairclip out of my hair and pressed the center. The clip changed shape and lengthened until it was a four-foot long, double-edged, bronze sword. The hilt was decorated with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. At the base of the sword, written in ancient Greek, was the name: rosebud.

My audience gasped. I was beginning to enjoy myself. "It doesn't hurt mortals though."

"How could it not?" Jacob asked, his eyes popping. Next to him Mason was smirking, unsurprised. "That blade is wicked sharp."

"Is there a mortal around that would like to demonstrate?" I asked to the crowd.

Emily shrugged and came over to me. "You seem very sure about this," she whispered, holding out her hand. I noticed people coming out of their seats to get a better look.

I brought the blade down to Emily's hand. I saw Sam wince but the blade passed straight through her skin, like an illusion.

"Told you so," I laughed.

What about you?" Emily asked. She looked really concerned, like my words had just sunk in. "Where does that leave you?? Who is your family?"

I looked down, the smile slid from my face. I had hoped to avoid this question. "My mother is Demeter," I said quietly, "and I've been chased by monsters since I was ten."

Everyone was looking at me like I was some poor deprived child, another reason I had wanted to avoid that question. "I've gotten good at fighting them. It's just that it makes me strange in the fact that most of my siblings can go a year without much monstrous trouble."

"Good thing that you've got friends like us," Jacob said, putting his arm around my shoulder. I gave him a death glare but he ignored me.

We all sat down again. Billy started talking about how the first people had become werewolves. I finally got to look around. The amount of people seemed wrong. I asked Mason if anyone was missing.

"Yeah," he said. "Embry, Brady and Colin are running a patrol."

"Are you expecting something?" I asked.

"Don't really know. I prefer not asking questions."

"You're really helpful," I said in a huff. I turned my attention back to what Billy was saying. He finished up where the guy (I hadn't paid attention to the name) had become a werewolf. It felt like everyone was waiting for the story to continue but Billy wasn't talking.

I really surprised when we left to realize that I'd actually had a lot of fun.


	4. School

**A/N: Really sorry for the delay. The computer repair place is slow (like extremely) and I had some writters block. But here it is. Enjoy**.

Chapter 4

School

A couple days later, my first day of school started earlier than most people. I woke at 5:30 AM. I went to the bathroom as quietly as I could- everyone else would need to get up soon but they wouldn't be happy if I woke them up early.

I looked into the mirror and was fairly happy. My hair- which I had washed and blow-dried the night before- was still lying perfectly flat.

My make-up was mainly for just around my eyes. I put on a dark blue t-shirt with purple flowers and Bermuda shorts. I had my hair pin/sword and my bracelet just in case there was a problem.

Each of my parents rushed out the door grabbing a cup of coffee before they headed to work.

Mason came down the stairs like a zombie. He was ready to go which was good since we were about to be late. We piled our stuff in my car. Mason was extremely quiet for almost the entire time that we were driving. I actually thought that he'd fallen asleep.

"Don't wait for me after school," he finally said. "I'll be patrolling."

"Whatever," I said with a shrug. It was going to take a while to get over the fact that he wasn't the lazy kid that I'd left him.

When we reached school, Mason raced over to a bunch of other eighth graders were walking from the high school parking lot to the middle school. I got out of the car and headed into my own school.

The front hall was jammed with students. A couple of teachers were attempting to corral the freshman into the auditorium where things would be explained to them.

I headed straight into the cafeteria. Just as I was expecting, several tables were put together, end to end, and had folders on them. Each folder had a name on it and was in alphabetical order.

I found my folder and looked inside. There was a lot of papers that would need to be filled out and turned back in but I cared more about the first paper I pulled out: my schedule.

"Dawn," I heard someone call across the room. I looked over and saw Holly, one of my friends, making her way through the crowd. "It's so good to see you again."

"I know, it's been forever. You have to tell me what's been going on this summer."

"Hey guys," said a cheery voice, coming up next to us. "I love my classes."

"Hey Lori," Holly and I greeted at the same time.

Lori was a bit shorter than me but taller than Holly. I noticed that she had added bright blue highlights to her hair.

"Speaking of schedules," Holly said. "What classes do you guys have?"

"I have -Mr. Cordon for history, first period," I said looking at the paper in my hand.

"Same here," they both said at the same time. We all burst out laughing.

"We can talk there," Lori, said, starting to walk down the hall. "Does anyone know what happened to Morgan? I haven't seen her."

"She and Jeremy headed off already," Holly answered.

"So they started dating," I commented.

"Yeah, that's old news now," Lori said with a yawn. "You miss so much when you go away."

"I know."

They told me about some of the things that had happened over the summer. Who totaled their car, which crashed a party, who was dating whom? This was the routine for us, catching up.

"…and then Mark pushed him in the pool. Sobered him up some but he was totally wasted," Holly said finishing up a story of a party crasher.

"Wish I'd been there," I said. "It sounds like this summer was a blast."

"It really was," Lori said.

We walked into the classroom laughing and smiling. The smile slid off my face when I saw the group sitting next to the window. Jacob, Quil, and Embry were laughing and joking.

I glared at them. "Hey, let's sit over here." I gestured toward the seats closest to the window. My friends both nodded and sat

I looked back by the window. My voice must have alerted the werewolves that I was in the room because they all looked over at me. Jacob was smirking and Quil looked a bit clueless. I looked at Embry and saw that he had a bit of a far away look.

I sat down as the bell rang. Mr. Cordon walked in a few minutes later. "Hey guys," he said really nonchalantly. "Welcome back to school." He walked over to his desk and picked up some papers. "Anyway, this is world history. I'm going to assign seats, in alphabetical order." Just about everyone groaned loudly at the announcement. Mr. Cordon rolled his eyes and continued." It may only be for the first part of the year. It all depends on behavior."

Murmurs of complaints were circulating around the room.

Mr. Cordon was ignoring the talking. He got out the list of names and went over to the first row. "Lillian Anthill, Quil Ateara, Jacob Black, Embry Call."

I had gotten up so that Embry could sit in my seat. Mr. Cordon moved to the front of the second row. "Joshua Falcon, Anna Johnson, Holly Marion, Dawn Nelson."

I took my seat at the back of the second row. I was basically in the middle of the room and it really didn't matter that I was in the back. I was quite happy that Holly was in front of me. Embry Call was on one side of me and a quiet kid, that I'd never talked to before, named Dylan Richardson was on the other side, neither of these were all that bad. The close proximity of Jacob was the only problem.

Mr. Cordon handed out books, gave us papers about some of the big projects we would be doing, and told us what was expected of each of us. I saw that the bell was going to ring soon but the teacher wasn't done. "The first project s gong to be in groups of four. I'm going to assign the groups," he said quickly. All the students had begun scrambling so that they could be with friends. "They're the people close to you." He gestured at the four in the first two rows on the half closest to the door.

I realized that that meant I would be in a group with Jacob. I crossed my arms on the desk and let my forehead rest on them. This was one of my worst nightmares.

"I will be handing out countries, at random, that you will do the project on." And, indeed, Mr. Cordon was walking around the room with a basket.

Jacob looked at ours and passed it on without comment. Embry nodded, "okay," he murmured to himself.

Holly looked at it and passed it to me. "I think you'll like it."

I looked down. Greece. Of course.


	5. Planning

**A/N: It took a little longer than I was hoping to get this out and it is a bit shorter too. Between my computer and brother I really didn't have a lot of time to type. Hope you like anyway. **

**Oh yeah and I've been forgettng to say this: I don't own PJO or Twilight even if I wish I did.**

Chapter 5

Planning

I practically ran out of my first class. I shoved the history book in my locker. I stopped, as I was about to slam it shut. I needed to take a minute to take some deep breaths.

The world wasn't going to end if I was in the same group with Jacob. He had been a jerk when I was younger but people changed, as they got older. Didn't they? I should give him a chance. And if I couldn't stand being in the same room with him? I could always pull a bad grade back up.

With that positive thinking I headed off to my next class. Botany. None of my best friends were in class with me but, because of my mom, I was really good at dealing with plants.

The first part of the day had gone well. Lori was in my math class and Holly was in my English class. My English teacher was crazy and the class was hilarious. I never liked that class but the teacher made it a bit better.

Holly and I were still laughing when we got to lunch. We got in line.

"Hey," Lori said. She was sneaking in line next to us. "If anyone asks, I've been here for the entire time."

"Whatever," Holly and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and broke out laughing again.

Lori gave us a strange look but ignored us. We grabbed the food and headed back to the table. Morgan was already sitting at the table.

"Hey," she said without looking up from her book.

"Where's _Jeremy_?" Lori said. Her voice was all sing-songy when she said Jeremy's name.

"He's with his other friends," Morgan said ignoring Lori.

We took up half the table. We started chatting. It was cool to just talk about normal teen stuff and not demigod stuff like sword skills or what the plans for the war would be.

I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings. Somehow, I ended up knocking my water bottle off the table.

"Watch it, Nelson," Quil scolded, catching my water bottle out of the air. He was chuckling as he set it back on the table.

"Why are you guys sitting here?" Lori asked.

"Is that illegal now?" Jacob sat down next to Quil. Embry was there on the other side of the table.

"No," Lori mumbled, crossing her arms. "But it should be."

"Whatever."

"Were trying to set up a party at the beach this weekend," Embry said. "You know like a back to school thing."

"Going back to school is nothing to celebrate," Morgan said.

"Anyway, you guys want to come?"

"I don't see why not," Holly said brightly. "But we should probably have about half of the report done before then. It is due next Friday."

"That's a good idea," Embry said. "Let's get together tomorrow."

"Sure," Jacob said. "Fine. We can do that."

"We can meet at my house," I said. "We've got wireless so you can bring a laptop or something."

"I'll get some books from the library," Holly said. "That's settled then. We'll get it done in no time."

Holly was really nice and all but she loved the good grades she got and was a slave driver if she had to be. She knew me as a procrastinator and Jacob was lazy about doing reports and things (she worked with him before).

We made the plans and then went back to talking before the bell rang a warning that lunch was over.

"See you guys later."

**A/N: The study session will be in the next chapter. The party may be in it too. Remember to review.**


	6. Denied

**A/N: Okay, it continues to take me a very long time to get each chapter out. For that I am quite sorry. I'll try and be quicker but since school is about to start, I can't make any promises. **

Chapter 6

Denied

"So, are we going to put something about myths in or not?" I asked angrily. We'd been working for two hours and still hadn't decided exactly what we were going to write.

"Why do you want to put myths in so badly?" Jacob asked for the third time. This had been our main dilemma during the study session, Jacob and I couldn't agree on anything.

"It was part of the culture of ancient Greece, I'm fairly knowledgeable on the subject, and it could take up at least a page."

Mr. Cordon had given more information on the project. We had to write a 5 page paper, create a poster and do a 5 minute presentation.

" I think you should write it," Holly said, glancing up from laptop. "Right now we just need to get stuff written. We can work it in for the final paper later."

She glanced up at the clock. "I've got to go," she said in alarm. She began gathering up the books that had been scattered on the floor around her. "I'm supposed to watch my sisters this evening. I'll get that paragraph on Athens finished before we meet again."

"Let's meet on Thursday," I suggested.

She nodded, "Sure, that'll work."

Holly walked out the front door and when we heard the door close behind her, Embry spoke up," I've got to do too." He stood in the middle of the papers he had been looking at. His eyebrows knit together as he saw how perfectly circle the piles were. He shrugged, as if answering a silent question, and gathered up the papers.

Embry stuffed all his stuff into a black backpack and went out the back door. He ran towards the woods where he would transform away from possibly watching eyes of the neighbors (I knew because of Mason).

I glared at Jacob. "Why are you so against putting mythology in the paper? Live it, I should be able to write a paper about it."

"It doesn't matter now," he said, rolling his eyes. "You're going to write it anyway."

"What is your problem?" It seemed like he was always mean or rude to me. It was like he went out of his way to be a jerk to me even when he was nice to everyone else.

"I'm not the one with the problem," he said, turning away from me. "Ever heard of anger management classes." What a perfect example.

"You're insufferable," I said, gritting my teeth to keep from yelling.

Jacob smirked. "Now, why don't you spell that?"

I felt my face turn red and a retort come to the tip of my tongue but I bit it back down. Instead I stormed out to the back door.

"Hey," my dad said as I passed him, wheeling Billy into the kitchen. "Billy is going to stay for dinner."

"Whatever," I said through my teeth.

I accidentally slammed the door behind me. I stomped across the deck and sat down on the step. I couldn't even think clearly, my mind was so clouded by anger. I had tried to count backwards from ten and breath deeply before but coming outside helped me more.

I looked up and, somehow, saw the dead flowers in the garden next to me. I knelt down next to the dead rose bush. "It's worth the thorns to have a rose," I murmured to myself.

I put my hands on either side of plant and let a little bit of nature magic escape into the plant. Almost instantly, the branches got a green tint and then the buds formed on limbs and began to bloom.

"Those powers of yours sure are something," I heard someone say.

I turned around quickly and saw Billy Black sitting on the porch. I smirked humorlessly, "That's surprising. You deal with creatures of legend all the time."

Billy shrugged. "Guess I'm used to it by now. But Dawn, don't forget: nothing is ever quite as it seems.

I waited for him to elaborate but he just turned his chair around and went back inside.

***

I stayed outside until Jacob and his dad left. I gardened and walked in the woods until it was almost dark. I grabbed a plate and got myself out some dinner.

"So, what was wrong?" mom asked, sitting across from me at the table. "You seemed in a big hurry to get out of the house."

"I got a little mad at Jacob," I said. "It was no big deal."

Mom nodded at me. "It's good that you didn't explode like you used to." We sat n silence for a while. "Is there anything going on at school?"

"Actually, there's nothing going on at school," I said vaguely. "But there is this party at the beach Saturday that I wanted to go to."

My mom frowned a bit. "Who's going to be at this party?"

"My friends," I said cautiously. Mom had never questioned me before. I always thought that the fighting monsters thing I made me look fairly responsible. "The pack, some other kids from school, I guess."

Her frown deepened. "If that's how you and Jacob act over homework, I'd hate to see a real argument. It would be better if you saw him the smallest amount as possible. I don't think you should go to that party if Jacob's there."

"What?" Had I heard her right?

"I don't want you to go," she said. "End of story."

"But." Before I could argue anymore she got up and left me sitting at the table alone.

* * *

It didn't feel right. My parents were gone, at a dinner/meeting thing. Mason was patrolling. I was at home alone and, if I were careful, no one would even know that I left.

I knew that if I went and they found out, they would never trust me again. Worse punishments would await me as well but, really, the party was extremely enticing and might even be worth it.

It didn't help that it was so easy. I simply put the keys in the engine and drove away.

"I didn't think you'd make it," Holly squealed almost as soon as I walked on the beach.

It seemed like half the junior class was on that beach. Music was blasting out of the back of someone's car and people were dancing. A table by the parking lot was full of food and drinks (the non-alcoholic kind). A bonfire was set up and people were sitting around it, mainly just talking.

No one dared venture into the water. Even though it was early fall, the water was bound to be chilly at best. I mingled with some of my other classmates, avoiding the ones that I didn't care for (including Jacob).

The only really interesting (and for the average person, terrifying) think that happened was right when I was about to leave. The sun (which had made an appearance that day) was starting to sink below the ocean.

I knew that I was pressing my luck by staying for too long. My parents could be home any minute. For some reason, I chose this time to look up at the cliff that loomed to one side of our gathering.

A family was having a picnic up there. Three little kids, two parents and a dog sat there. I smiled at the nostalgia of the moment but it ended all too quickly.

One of the children ventured too close to the edge. The parents screamed at the child to stay away but it was already too late. A small form fell down to the rolling ocean below.

**A/N: OOh, cliff hanger. The first I've had but not the last. And, for all the Jacob fans, I don't hate Jacob. It was just so easy to make him a jerk. Please review. **


	7. Saving the Day

**A/N: Hey. This story is progressing slower than I had expected but it is finally getting to the part where everything is put into motion. Enjoy**.

Ch 7

Saving the Day

Now, that kind of fall won't kill you. Actually, most kids jump off of that cliff for fun. The thing was, that kid looked really small. I really wasn't sure that he could swim. No matter what I thought for an excuse, I still couldn't totally justify why I jumped into the water. I guess it was battle reflexes.

Remember how I said that no one went into the water because it was cold. It was more than just cold but I swam out anyway.

The edge of the cliff rose from the water about thirty feet from the beach, but the little boy was going farther out to sea. I kicked harder to reach him.

The boy was splashing around. He was trying so hard to keep his head above the icy water.

I got a hold on him. He held me around the neck in a death grip, his teeth chattering. I tried to swim forward. The problems weighed in my mind: the boy was weighing me down, I only had one hand to swim with, and I felt an undertow pulling at my legs.

I heard sirens in the distance. People were yelling from the shore.

I felt my feet touch the bottom. The little boy was taken from my arms. I attempted to walk foreword and almost face planted in the water. Embry grabbed my arm and helped me back up.

"That was really cool," he whispered to me. "Really stupid, but cool." He helped me walk toward the parking lot.

I saw the little kid being loaded into the back of an ambulance. "How old was he?" I asked.

"Three," Embry answered back quietly. "His mom was going crazy. She was saying that he's afraid of the ocean and has barely ever been in the water."

"He's not going to be too thrilled with it now."

Embry snorted. "No. Probably not."

I was lead to my own ambulance. They gave me a towel and checked temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate.

"You're okay," the EMT person said. "But we should probably take you to the hospital anyway."

"No hospital," I said firmly. "I was about to go home. I feel fine. I'll just be on my way."

They shrugged. I wasn't sure if they were allowed to shrug something like that off but they said I was fine.

I went over to my car. A news crew was coming. Must have been a slow day. They rushed past me, oblivious. I just drove away.

~*~

My house was dark when I got there but, as soon as I opened the door, the kitchen light came on.

There my parents were, standing in the middle of the kitchen. Mom had her arms crossed and looked angry. Dad looked disappointed, I think that was worse.

"Hey," I said, trying to smile. I think it came out kind of fake.

"I can't believe you," mom said, shaking her head. "I specifically told you not to leave and go to that party and what did you do."

"How do you know I went to the party?" I mumbled, feeling very aware of my soaked clothes.

"We both know that you can't lie," she said bluntly. "There's a storm coming in so the water is freezing."

"Mom," I said, trying to stay calm.

"You should have known that," she went on like she hadn't heard me. "And yet you went into the water anyway."

"Mom," I said a little louder.

"You could have gotten pulled out by a riptide, you could have gotten pneumonia, you could have-"

"Margaret." It took me yelling her first name, which I never did, to get her attention. "What did you want me to do? Let that little kid drown." She was about to argue when I cut her off again. "Who did you want me to wait for? The police, the ambulance, the Coast Guard. They wouldn't have gotten there on time and you know that."

She looked like she was about to explode but dad put his hand up. "Let me talk to her for a minute," he said, talking to mom. She didn't look like she would leave but after half a minutes she did.

Dad sighed. "Dawn," he said sadly, shaking his head. All the anger rushed out of me. "Sit." He pointed to a stool across the counter from him.

He wasn't commanding but I was compelled to obey anyway. I sat and looked at him from across the counter. I saw that his eyes looked so tired and sad.

"You know, she was really worried about you when we heard what you were doing."

"How did you find out?" I asked.

He smirked. "Don't get mad. Holly only did it because she cares. I've been round her enough to know that."

"I'm not mad at her."

I'm not mad, either," he said, seeming to read my mind. "I'm disappointed but I understand. I did things like that when I was your age."

"Really?" I asked curiously. I couldn't imagine my dad at 16. It just didn't work out in my head.

He nodded. "But I didn't have to go through everything that you do. That's why I got in a lot more trouble than you do. That and you're more cautious because of your experiences. It was still wrong, you know that?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm not sure what I was thinking."

"I don't enjoy punishing you," he said, "but you need a little bit of discipline. I'd say you'd learn from a week without your car."

I frowned but nodded. The way he acted so calm made me calm. I couldn't be mad at someone who wasn't yelling and I couldn't disagree with him. I wasn't sure how I would survive without my car but I would have to deal. I wasn't going to argue anymore.


	8. Monster Alert

**A/N: I'm back. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. I did something different by having another character's POV. This is also the first time you see the vampires. **

Chapter 8

Monster Alert

The next Monday was the first real test of my punishment. Margaret dropped us off at school. I was still mad at her and refused to speak to her. It didn't take long for her to take the hint.

School went by as normal as most days went. Normal classes, normal conversations, and normal work. The class schedule was already getting a bit tedious. Sometimes, I could use a monster attack just to spice up the routine.

When the final bell rang, there was the usual mad rush to leave the area. I went to the student parking lot because I forgot that I wouldn't be driving home. It wasn't until I saw the empty parking space where my car usually was, did I remember.

Dad and Margaret were both at work. The bus didn't go to my neighborhood and I realized that I had already missed the ones that went close to it. I would just have to find another ride home.

I could have asked Holly for a ride but I just couldn't. She would know that it was my punishment and she would think that it was her fault since she called my parents. I knew it wasn't but it was hard to tell Holly anything when she set her mind to it. I couldn't stand to see that face she has when she upset and terribly sorry about something.

So I made a decision. The years before, I had walked home quite often (I missed the bus). It wasn't that far even without the shortcut I knew. It was a much straighter shot, through the woods behind the school.

I patted the clip in my hair to make sure it was still there. I looked down to make sure that my shoes were tied (so glad I'd worn tennis shoes) and hitched up my backpack, thankful it was a light homework night.

I headed into the woods. The light filtered down green (it was one of those few days that it wasn't cloudy). I noticed some of the landmarks from the last few times I had walked through the forest, and only got confused a few times.

I'm not sure exactly when I first felt something. It was that prickling-on-the-back-of-the-neck something-is-seriously-watching-me feeling. I looked around a few times.

The fourth time I did that, I took my sword out, not my shield. If it was some kid then he/she might think I had a baseball bat or something, the shield would be harder to explain.

I remembered to earlier in the day, when I had thought that a monster attack would 'spice up my routine,' and really regretted it.

I heard a twig snap and a grunt. The grunt really set me on edge. It was almost a snarl and defiantly not human. I twisted around, my eyes scanning. My hand was headed toward my shield when I smelled something that was like a mixture of rotten eggs and sweaty gym socks that had been left in the car too long (I have experience in this because I have Mason as a brother).

I spun around, recognizing the smell of monster, and found myself staring up at a reptilian head.

Make that, many heads.

This was one of my "why me" moments. I mean, why did it have to be me and why did it have to be the Hydra? The thing was huge with five heads, all with gigantic teeth.

For a minute it just stared at me, its reeking breath making me nauseous. I thought about running or just attacking it. I remembered that the monsters had bad eyesight so, even though I had my sword out, which they do not like at all, none of its heads might see me (yeah right). Thinking back, I should have attacked anyway.

The Hydra roared and lunged at me. I rolled to the side, landing next to a tree-my the only bit of good luck was that I didn't hit the tree. It freight trained past me within two feet of me. One of the heads turned back and snarled at me for evading it. The head spit a greenish substance in my direction and I jumped out of the way again.

It came toward me again and this time I stood my ground. At least until the few seconds when I realized how stupid I was being. I stepped out of the way but still held out my sword.

Rosebud connected with something. It just happened to be a head. The head writhed on the ground before becoming still. The stub writhed too and then split and formed two more heads. The strike didn't even seem to hurt it, just made it mad.

It seemed like it was going to lunge at me again. My muscles tensed as I waited for the strike. But it didn't strike. It cocked its head to one side like it was hearing something (very possible). It turned around and charged away.

Just so you know, I didn't even think about going after it. I stooped down and picked up the head with a plastic bag that I had in my backpack (why did I have one with me? I don't know) and then stuck it in my backpack. I'm not exactly sure why. I think I had a faint glimmer of wanting to show the few nonbelievers in the pack and maybe show what I was dealing with.

I stood back up. I didn't hear the creaking in time. Remember that tree I had rolled next to. Well, apparently, the Hydra's poison hit the tree and it had been slowly melting while I was fighting. Said tree decided to chose the most inopportune time to fall the wrong direction. Which basically means that it fell toward me while I was standing there. I ended up passing out.

~*~

Bella's POV

Edward and I were out hunting with Reneesme. We were staying close to home because Alice said that something big was going to happen. She hadn't said what, just that it was big.

We heard a growl and some stomping around. We decided to head toward it. It smelled a little off for an animal but it sounded big.

As we got closer we smelled something else. It had been blocked out by the strong scent of whatever the animal was but, a little closer, we knew exactly what it was: a human.

Edward and I both stopped at the same time. Reneesme had kept going but came back as soon as she realized that we weren't with her anymore. I looked over at Edward. His face was empty of emotion and his eyes were closed.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"Shhh," he said, putting a finger up to quiet me. He stood there for a few seconds. "It's definitely a human," he finally said. "But I can't get a clear read on the thoughts. It's all muddled, like something acting on instinct."

I nodded. "Should we head back?" I asked.

He shrugged. "We really can't show what we are. Especially since it's sunny out." Edward went to turn around, trying to find the scent of another animal.

I was still focused on the first scent. I heard the heavy footsteps head away, then a sigh of relief and shuffling of a lighter form. Then I heard the scream and a crash.

We both turned to face the sound. Without even thinking about it, I started running towards the sound.

"Bella," I heard Edward call to me. He was running too and if the person hadn't been so close, he would have caught up to me.

I saw the down tree and a hand sticking out from under the interweaved branches. I went over toward it. Edward took my hand as I started toward the person.

"Bella, please," his voice was pleading.

"We have to help her," I said, now knowing that it was definitely a girl. I tried to head go toward her again but Edward was holding me in the spot.

"What if she's dying and there is nothing we can do?" he asked. "What would you do then?"

"I don't know," I said, "but she might not be dying." I looked back at him. "We have to do something."

Edward shook his head again but let go of my hand. I ran toward the hand that was sticking out from under the tree. I knelt down in front of her.

Suddenly, the warm hand took a hold on my arm. The dark head of hair moved up and bright green eyes looked into mine. "Please," she said quietly. "Tell me, is it gone?"

I had really been expecting her to ask for help. I didn't know what she was talking about but we were alone. "Yes."

She smiled. "Good." Her head fell back down to the ground and her hand went slack.

I straightened up. I got a grip on the tree and easily picked it up and tossed it to the side. I turned to Edward. "Should we take her to the hospital or home?"

He considered that for a minute. "The hospital would ask too many questions, not to mention her parents." He had closed his eyes and was shaking his head slightly at the thought. "Carlisle can see if she's hurt."

"Yeah," I said.

Edward went over and picked her up. Reneesme ran over to me and I picked her up. She placed her hand on my head. A picture of the girl formed in my head with an overtone of curiosity. The question was a clear 'who is this?'

"I don't know, sweetheart?" I said quietly. "Maybe she'll tell us."

Reneesme nodded. I wheeled around and started running towards home with Edward and the strange girl on my heels.

**A/N: Hey guys. Hope you liked it. You guys really have to know that I love it when you review. It really makes me want to write more. ****Please let me know how I did with having it in Bella's POV. I don't even care if you say that I did horrible with getting her voice or if you just hate when people use her voice (actually tell all the voices you'd hate, I won't use those). Tell me what you think or any requests for things you'd like to have in it. **


	9. Meeting the Vampires

Chapter 9

Meeting the Vampires

The darkness was peaceful. There was no noise, no doubt, and no pain. I could have stayed in that state forever but it wasn't constant.

The first time, I was looking into the pale face of a dark haired woman. I grabbed her arm and noticed how cold she was. I must have said something but I couldn't make out what either of us said and passed out again.

The next time, it was like I was flying and when I looked around, I saw trees going past way faster than even a car could be. After that, I saw more of the pale people and I was taken into some house. Finally, I was able to settle into the peace for a little while.

Then I started to dream and, if you know anything about demigods, dreams are never just dreams. The thing with my dream, though, was that there were a lot of things that were just swirls of colors. There were a few things that I could pick out. There was a group of really pale people marching in a straight line, a gray werewolf that seemed to smile, and a shadowy presence that seemed familiar.

I woke up slowly. I was really groggy and the comfortable couch wasn't helping me wake up. I looked around and saw that the house I was in was really open and light. I heard a piano being played.

As quietly as I could, I looked over the back of the couch. The piano was on a platform. A blonde woman was playing the piano; a little girl with curly bronze hair was dancing next to the stage. As I was watching, a short woman with short black hair came into the room so fast that I hadn't seen her until she stopped. She began dancing with the little girl and, whenever she got in the sun, she began sparkling. A group of people came down the stairs just as quickly.

My eyes had to be wide with shock. "What is up with this picture?" I said without thinking.

The music stopped and all the people looked over at me. "So, you finally woke up," said the woman with black hair.

"You didn't answer my question," I said. I got to my feet, never taking my eyes off them. I crossed my arms across my chest and raised my eyebrow. "What are you, like, vampires?"

They all looked at each other nervously. I felt the blood drain from my face. "Oh gods, I was joking," I said, my voice shaking. "Please tell me that you're not serious."

One of the guys, the bigger of the two that were there, chuckled slightly. "Then you are good at guessing."

I didn't say anything. Instead I vaulted over the couch and went past them. I must have startled them or something because nobody moved. I had almost made it to the front door when it opened. It caught me off guard and I fell backwards, landing on my wrist awkwardly.

"Ow," I said trying to sit up. My arm felt like it was being stabbed with thousands of needles with my wrist hurting the worst.

"Be careful," said the vampire who had opened the door. He leaned down to help me.

I looked up at him. "Dr. Cullen?"

He seemed a bit surprised. "Hello Dawn," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not really sure," I said. I heard a door open.

"We can help you with that," said a woman with long brown hair that came through the back door. "But you'll have to fill in some of the blanks."

~*~

"So, these monsters hunt demi-gods, like you, down," Esme said, trying to understand everything I had told her. Dr. Cullen was wrapping my wrist. He had said that it was my only injury.

I told them about the gods and monsters and how my brother was in the pack. After they had all introduced themselves, it didn't feel like they were threats.

"Yeah," I said. "That's why I tried to get away. There are these things called empousai, they're, like, ancient Greek vampires."

Carlisle was taking this all in with extreme interest. It was almost freaky but I was pretty much use to freaky by now. "You're good to go," Dr. Cullen said.

I got up to leave. "Thanks," I said to them.

"Let us give you a ride," Bella said, pulling Edward with her.

"Thanks a lot," I said, laughing slightly at the scene. "That'd be great."

"Mommy, can I come to," the little girl asked, pulling on Bella's sleeve. "I want to see Jacob again."

"You're Jacob's, Reneesme," I said. She nodded.

"Sweetie, we're really not going to stay there for very long," Bella said softly. "I'm sure that Jacob will come over later."

"I'll tell him," I said, a smile touching my lips. "I'll make sure he has the message."

The car ride was quiet but it was a comfortable silence. I told them where to go. I was thankful for the ride especially after I saw just how far it was.

"Thanks," I told them when I went to get out. "Not just for the ride. For everything."

"Just be careful now," Bella told me. I thought it was a bit strange that she sounded almost like a mother in the way she cared that I was safe. Part of it was probably just how young she looked.

"I will." I closed the door and waited in the driveway until they had driven away. Turned and walked into the house.

I heard talking in the dining room. It might not be to most people but to me, this was another strange thing. The only time we ever used the dining room was when we were having a big party. I went to investigate.

I looked into the room without actually making and an appearance. It was the pack. I was pretty sure that it was the entirety of both packs, which I had never seen before. They were arguing about something.

"I don't think it was a vampire," Jacob was saying. "It's messier than something a vampire would do."

"If it's not a vampire, then what is it?" Sam asked.

"What's not a vampire?" I asked, stepping into the room.

"Dawn, what we meant…" Jacob said, floundering for an explanation. He settled on changing the subject. "What happened to you?"

I took an available seat and pulled up to the table. "How 'bout this?" I told them. "Give me the details and I'll tell you what happened."

They all looked a little reluctant to tell me anything. "You know that you could have told me about the vampires," I said nonchalantly. A worried look passed over Sam's, Jacob's and most of the packs' faces. "Met the Cullens." The phrase seemed to set their minds to ease.

"It was for safety," Mason piped up.

I snorted but didn't reply. "Give me the details." The way I said it, it wasn't a request, it was a demand.

"Someone was found dead close to here," Sam told me. "It had teeth marks, so it wasn't human, but the teeth were huge. Bigger than a bears or anything."

I just nodded. "I think I know what it was."

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. I started sketching out the hydra.

"What is it?" Quil asked, looking over my shoulder.

"It's the Hydra," I sad without looking up. "It's about seven feet from its feet to the base of the neck. I'd say about eight or nine from the neck up to the head. It's got five, no wait I cut one off, so six heads."

"Wouldn't it be four?" Embry asked.

"They grow back," Mason answered for me. "And spit poison that melts rocks." It was a bit funny how deadly serious he sounded on something that, in normal society, could never happen.

"No way," another one in the pack said.

I looked up from my drawing. "Way." I pushed the finished sketch in front of them. "It's all scaly. I didn't feel like drawing it." I went to the door, where I had left my backpack. Just as I hoped, the head was still in it.

"This is really good," Embry said as he looked over the drawing.

"Want to see the real thing?" They all looked a bit confused about what I meant. I walked over to the table and set the Hydra's head on the table.

Everyone had their eyes practically popping out of their heads. A couple of them had backed away from the table.

I couldn't help but smirk. "That is what you are looking for."

They all left shortly after. It was going to be normal rotations but everyone was gong to be on alert for a call.

Mason seemed on edge as he walked from the kitchen to the dining room to the couch and back again. "Chill," I told him. "Nothing s going to happen that fast."

"I know," he said. "I'm just worried."

"That's okay," I told him. What I didn't tell him was that I was worried too. We stood in the kitchen n silence for a minute. I thought about asking if anyone in the pack was gray in wolf form but didn't when he went to sit on the back porch to wait if the call would go out.


	10. We Make a Plan

**A/N: Hey people. Sorry about how long it took. Life (mainly school) has been getting in the way. Also, I seriously hated writing this. i'm telling you this before hand just cause. I wrote the first half and then got bored. I won't feel bad if you don't read the second half. I hope you guys like it anyway. The next chapter will be better.**

Chapter 10

We Make a Plan

Guess what. There was no call that night but I was up late worrying about it anyway. I wasn't sure whether or not werewolves could deal with mythological monsters. If they couldn't, they would be in big trouble. So, I couldn't sleep.

At school, I was tired, distracted, and anxious. I found myself staring out the window almost the entire time. I bombed two tests and was yelled at several times (I think I was on the verge of visiting the principal).

And the same thing happened that night. I thought I was going to go crazy by all of it. I'd dealt with monsters before. The difference was that most of the time they went 'poof' before I left and even when it didn't, I never had to really worry about a bunch of other people.

Jacob didn't help matters.

He caught me at my locker on Thursday before history. "I think you sent us on a wild goose chase," he said simply.

"Hello to you too, Jacob," I replied like he had said something else. I closed my locker and started down the hall toward my first class. He blocked my way. "Fine," I sighed, mainly to myself. "What are you talking about?"

"I think that you were faking it," he said. "We haven't found any evidence that your little 'Hydra' is in this area."

"What about that head I showed you?" I said.

"I didn't say that I didn't believe that it existed," he said, rolling his eyes. "For all I know, you had that head in your room. Maybe you did see it and you destroyed it."

"If I had already killed it," I said in a low voice, "why would I say all that stuff and make myself look like an idiot."

"You are out for attention," Jacob said. "I am not putting my pack out there for your little stunt." His voice was rising with every word and people were starting to stare. "They are all worried about it and if it's just something you came up with-"

Embry got between Jacob and me. "Just chill dude," he said calmly. "We're in no more danger if it's real or not." He turned and looked at me. "And I don't think it's a stunt."

Jacob gave Embry a look that was almost a 'seriously,' at least, that's what it looked to me. Jacob turned and stalked off down the hallway.

"Don't worry about him," Embry said. "He has a lot on his mind."

"Yeah," I said with a shrug. "I guess I can understand that. Thanks."

I gave him a smile and he smiled back for a moment but then he seemed like he was worried or scared about something. He walked quickly off to history without another word. I was left there, staring confusedly at the retreating form. I would never understand these werewolves.

I hurried off to history. I ended up getting in the room just as the bell rang. It didn't really matter all that much. We had a substitute teacher who was trying to figure out where everything was. She wasn't even looking up when I came in.

I took my seat behind Holly. She turned around. "Hey," she said cheerfully.

"Yeah," I said, distracted. I opened my book to the chapter that we had been working on just so I wouldn't have to look at her. Really, I was still pouring over what Jacob had accused me of.

Was I really out for attention all the time? I remembered as an elementary school kid I had acted out a lot but I thought that I had gotten that under control. I was staring at a page without seeing it.

"You okay?" Holly asked. Concern was evident on her face as she was looking at me.

"Yeah," I told her. "I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine. You seem… upset," she said bluntly after searching for the word.

"It's nothing," I assured her. I tried to smile but even to me it seemed fake.

She gave me another concerned look, shaking her head slightly. I thought she was going to say something else but was interrupted when the teacher got up in front of the class.

"Well," the sub said in a nasally voice. "I can't find the papers that you are supposed to do so I'm just going to have you read the next section and do the questions at the end." I had a feeling that I would have hated to have her as a teacher, she just oozed the boring vibe, but, as a sub, she wasn't too bad.

No one actually read the section. People were talking or drawing or doing homework from other classes. I can't say that I was any better.

I read, maybe, the first paragraph. I just couldn't focus. I saw Holly writing furiously and I had a feeling that it was the questions at the end of the chapter.

I stretched my arms above my head. I ended up staring at the ceiling. I kept seeing little Hydras in the dots that were all over the ceiling tiles. I wondered what the teacher would do if I got up and left. Possibly nothing, possibly send me to the principal. I ended up not wanting to chance it.

I looked back down at the desk about the time a piece of paper fell onto my desk. I opened it to read the message.

_Sorry I left in a hurry. _It was obviously Embry's hand writing. I had seen it enough while we were working on our project to know.

I knew that we could have talked aloud without getting in trouble but could just tell that it was something that "normal' people couldn't hear.

_It's cool_, I wrote. _What were you saying about Jake? _I flicked it back over to Embry's desk.

I waited a few moments and a reply landed by my hand. _He's just too worried about too much stuff. _

I looked over at him and rolled my eyes. "What?" he asked.

_He was a jerk before he became a werewolf, _I wrote quickly.

"That's just him," Embry said with a shrug. He seemed to have forgotten about the note. "I never knew him like that. I think that it was just you."

"Probably," I muttered.

"Don't worry about him too much," Embry said. "It's not like you listen to what he says anyway."

I laughed. "That's one think that you have right." It wasn't entirely true. Sometimes, what he said did hurt but what I really needed to do was forget about Jacob. I would find out about the monsters on my own.

I made it pretty well through the day. At lunch, Holly came up with a proposition. "We need a day to hang out," she said as she sat down at the table. "Especially you, Dawn. You've seemed on edge all week. You need a break."

"Okay," I said. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well," Holly said with a smile. "I was thinking that we could all go to the football game and watch Lori in their little band performance. I don't know about the rest of you but I haven't been to a football game yet this year."

None of us had, of course there had been only one other game so far that year. Only Lori, who played flute in the band, had been to the games. Holly took that in good stride. "Then, on Saturday, we could go shopping and to a movie or something."

"Yeah," I said. "There was that one movie that you said that you wanted to see, Morgan."

She nodded. "We can go see it. I would love to go shopping."

It was agreed upon. Friday: football. Saturday: shopping and movie. I wish that I'd known how much trouble we would get into by the simple day out.


End file.
